Friday, March 14, 2008 at 2:02am
Leadership lessons of Jesus
Column: Executive Soul
This Sunday, Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week for Christians, a week of remembering Jesus' suffering and death. What leadership lessons did Jesus teach as he walked toward his death?
The two most common human responses to threat are flight or fight. Flight is the passive response, fight, the defensive response. Many Christians have interpreted Jesus' willing acceptance of death as a passive response.
Yet there is another interpretation. According to Walter Wink and other biblical scholars, Jesus demonstrated a "Third Way," a way of responding to threat that was neither fight nor flight.
The Third Way includes both respect for oneself and respect for the best self of the one who is attacking. It includes compassion for oneself and compassion for the attacker. It includes the ability to see beneath the surface, to see the humanity of the attacker.
Jesus was not a doormat. There were plenty of times that he stood up to religious leaders and political leaders and confronted them. (Remember his driving the moneychangers out of the temple, for instance). At the same time, he walked willingly to his death. How can these different responses be reconciled?
Leading by the Third Way involves discerning when and how to confront. It involves compassion at all times. It involves refusing to be manipulated. It involves unmasking the attacker. It involves calling forth the best in the attacker.
All along the path to his death, Jesus chose the Third Way. When he was brought before the ruler Pilate, for example, he refused to be manipulated. He challenged Pilate to face himself and to face the reality of what he was doing in condemning an innocent man. When Pilate refused, Jesus maintained his own dignity and his own identity. He did not allow Pilate to define him.
Jesus walked the entire path to the cross via the Third Way, demonstrating compassion for his accusers and maintaining his own dignity. He met violence with love, tough, discerning love.
Because Jesus met violence with love, even to the very end (praying for forgiveness for those who condemned and crucified him), the violence was undone. The rulers were unmasked, revealed for all to see who they really were.
Responding to violence with violence only creates more violence. Responding to violence through the Third Way opens up the possibility of transforming violence through love. Jesus was not a doormat. Instead, he modeled the strong leadership of transforming love.
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Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, churches, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2008 by Margaret Benefiel.
The two most common human responses to threat are flight or fight. Flight is the passive response, fight, the defensive response. Many Christians have interpreted Jesus' willing acceptance of death as a passive response.
Yet there is another interpretation. According to Walter Wink and other biblical scholars, Jesus demonstrated a "Third Way," a way of responding to threat that was neither fight nor flight.
The Third Way includes both respect for oneself and respect for the best self of the one who is attacking. It includes compassion for oneself and compassion for the attacker. It includes the ability to see beneath the surface, to see the humanity of the attacker.
Jesus was not a doormat. There were plenty of times that he stood up to religious leaders and political leaders and confronted them. (Remember his driving the moneychangers out of the temple, for instance). At the same time, he walked willingly to his death. How can these different responses be reconciled?
Leading by the Third Way involves discerning when and how to confront. It involves compassion at all times. It involves refusing to be manipulated. It involves unmasking the attacker. It involves calling forth the best in the attacker.
All along the path to his death, Jesus chose the Third Way. When he was brought before the ruler Pilate, for example, he refused to be manipulated. He challenged Pilate to face himself and to face the reality of what he was doing in condemning an innocent man. When Pilate refused, Jesus maintained his own dignity and his own identity. He did not allow Pilate to define him.
Jesus walked the entire path to the cross via the Third Way, demonstrating compassion for his accusers and maintaining his own dignity. He met violence with love, tough, discerning love.
Because Jesus met violence with love, even to the very end (praying for forgiveness for those who condemned and crucified him), the violence was undone. The rulers were unmasked, revealed for all to see who they really were.
Responding to violence with violence only creates more violence. Responding to violence through the Third Way opens up the possibility of transforming violence through love. Jesus was not a doormat. Instead, he modeled the strong leadership of transforming love.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, churches, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2008 by Margaret Benefiel.